June 24th traditionally marks the beginning of "Old Settlers' Reunion" in Barrett, our town festival. Rumor has it that OSR is the longest continually running town festival in the state at 102 years. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that I couldn't be prouder of our community members for all the hard work they put into hosting this annual event. From parades to petting zoos, car shows to community dinners, Barrett really puts on a show this time of year, and it's become one of my favorite things about living in this community.
I am most heavily involved with Prairie Wind Players for the big weekend. This year I'm playing guitar in our summer musical, "The Spitfire Grill." It's running this coming weekend also, so if you're in the Barrett area, stop on by for a spell! Here are some pictures:
You can see in the pictures that I'm playing an Ovation guitar. That's my new baby, Red! I picked it up at Grand Central Music in Duluth when Kris and I were on the north shore for vacation a few weeks ago. So far it's been a great instrument - good tuning, solid projection for a medium-depth bowl and fantastic amplification clarity. My only complaint is a little buzzing on the lower strings at times, but that may just be my playing and not the instrument. Even though this musical has forced me to become a cleaner player, I'm still pretty sloppy when it comes to fretwork and picking. I'm getting the bug to take my playing to a higher standard, though, and so far I'm really enjoying the experience of working with a group of musicians again. The Orchestra for Spitfire has been really tight; our pianist Cheryl has done tons of work with the cast, and Arlyn and I are just along for the ride most nights. It's been great fun. For more information on Prairie Wind Players and our other shows, please visit our website!
Obviously, the other major part of a town festival for the ONLY pastor in town is the community worship service. We held ours Sunday morning at our Lakeside Pavilion. We had good attendance and even better leadership, with Orlo Thompson and two of his friends providing great music and my lovely better half running our power point and video portions of the service. I did preach for the first time in four weeks - felt good to work the old homiletical muscles again. I'll post the sermon tomorrow morning after I'm back in the office.
With all the happenings over the weekend, I thought that today would be a good day for a break. So Kris and I are at home today. Later I'll golf a round and we're going to have pizza for supper. Life is good in Barrett!
You'd have been great as Caleb or Joe, but boy am I glad we had you for the pit instead! It couldn't be a more perfect situation.
ReplyDeleteGot a favorite moment from the show? I love how we handled the oatmeal and the staging of "Ice and Snow," especially when the orchestra kicks it up a few notches on the final verse ("Feels like spring!"). And Ashley sure acts the heck out of "Shine."
RW (the director)
Those you mentioned are great, but I'd say the last few bars of "When Hope Goes" and "Way Back Home" are pretty powerful for me. The Hall has been absolutely silent for all shows at that moment - the singers and orchestra really seem to pull the emotion to the forefront at those points. The last verse of "Come Alive Again" is a LOT of fun for me, too!
ReplyDeleteI've had great fun - it's been nice to play in a band again.
SAJ (the ovation picker...)
We enjoyed the weekend too! The musical was great. Please pass on our compliments to the rest of the cast!!
ReplyDeleteBrian
We enjoyed the weekend too! The musical was great. Please pass on our compliments to the rest of the cast!!
ReplyDeleteBrian